THE WORLD ULTRAS HOMEPAGE

A major project to precisely catalog every mountain in
the
world
with 1,500 meters (4,921') of prominence.

Prominence
is the relative elevation of a mountain summit. Prominence is the
elevation difference between a summit and the highest point (saddle)
that separates that summit from any higher summit.

About the Ultras Project

In 2004-2006, the authors of the Ultras Project researched and mapped
every summit on earth believed to have 1,500 meters (4,921') or more of
prominence. In total, we have calculated 1,524 such peaks (as of
June 10, 2007). The research has been done through a
combination of checking published maps and resources with detailed
analysis of the SRTM data.

Based on the principles explained in the theory
of prominence, we now have a robust calculation of the number of
mountains on earth.

Prominence is instrumental to our understanding of what constitutes a
unique mountain. For example, many hikers recognize 300' (or some
local
variant) as a
minimum criterion for inclusion of summits on a list; the separation of
peaks from sub-peaks. Mountains above any
prominence cutoff share certain characteristics, and as a result there
are several conventions as to standard
prominence threshholds. Four values in particular are widely
applied to prominence listings on peaklist.org. The
highest cutoff is the 1,500 meter cutoff for Ultra-Prominences - a de facto standard for "really-big"
or "world-class" summits. Other conventions are 600m (or 2,000')
for major mountains, 150m (or 500') for all minor mountains, and 100m
(or 300') for all summits. By popular convention in the U.S.,
hills with less than 300' prominence are considered sub-summits.

With the google earth Ultras kml, you will see that the Ultras are well
distributed all over the world. The dataset includes famous
summits
of course; highpoints of continents and major cordilleras including
13
of the 14 8,000 meter Himalayan peaks.
Other ultras are singular islands and volcanoes. Large numbers of
ultras languish
in relative obscurity; minor range highpoints in the American West or Central Asia, rocky
peaks extending above the Antarctic icecap, isolated
foothills in the Italian Alps, and unnamed summits in the B.C. Coast
Ranges.
Cataloging the ultras has been a major undertaking, and there is still
some work to be done. Topographic map
coverage
worldwide is both spotty and inconsistent. Certain
countries with accurate and publicly available surveys, such as the US
were fairly straight-forward to map. Other regions of the
world were not possible to compute until the release of shuttle (SRTM)
data. The SRTM DEM has allowed us to apply a consistent
methodology for identifying
ultras, and enabled us to generate accurate lists for Asia, South
America, and Africa. Through this analysis, we have been able to
correct numerous major and consistent errors in published summit
elevations, and to assign prominence values (outside the polar regions)
to a much higher degree of certainty than would be possible with only
paper maps. In the long term though, determination of
summit elevations and prominence
beyond approximately ±15 meters (±50 feet) for much of
the world will be dependent on accurate ground surveys, or new more
detailed DEMs.

What kind of mountains
make ultra-prominences?

The countries with the greatest numbers of Ultras are 1) China,
2) Canada, and 3) USA. More than half of the US ultras are in
Alaska. Slightly more than half of the Ultras are in
Eurasia.

There are about 165 island highpoints (11% of the total ultras) in
the list. There are also a substantial number of other ultras on
islands that are not the highest point of the island; notably on
Greenland, New Guinea, Sumatera, Java, Honshu, and Vancouver
Island.

Well over 200 volcanoes make the list; Kamchatka and the Aleutian
Islands alone account for about 50. Prominence tends to
favor high volcanoes; which often tower over their local surroundings
for 360˚.

Some of the most famous high ranges in the world have few ultras.
For example California's Sierra Nevada counts only Mt. Whitney, its
highest point. The Pyrenees contribute its highpoint,
Monte Aneto. Major ranges with famously high passes, those that
appear to form solid walls of alpine terrain, lack a high number of
ultras along their central spine. The Alps have more ultras in
their foothills than along the central spine. The Caucasus
merits only seven ultras. Bhutan only four.

High elevation is not necessarily a great indicator of frequency
either. High plateaux, such as the Bolivian Altiplano and the
Tibetan Plateau have infrequent ultras. The Karakoram on the
other hand has the world's highest density of Ultras, given its high
jagged peaks and low cols.

Glaciation is a great indicator of prominence. Prominences are
frequent where glaciated valleys create low saddles and summits are
high. In some heavily glaciated foothills,
glacier carved valleys adjoin in the back, creating
mountain "foothill" islands with high prominences. We see this in
British Columbia and the Southern Andes as well as in Northern
Italy. British Columbia alone has almost 100 ultras, about 7% of
the
world's total.

Ultras on Google Earth

Download the complete set of Ultras in
KML for use with Google Earth: Ultras-KMZ-file(does not automatically download with all browsers)

The
lists of the Worlds Ultras

The world is presented below in 43 lists by
political-geographical region. Each list includes some footnotes
describing
controversies in summit elevations and prominence values. If you
have more precise data that you believe is based on newer, technical
surveys, we would like to hear from you.

* Note that the current
total is 1,524. This will be corrected as lists are updated.

Key to Data Quality:

Level
1

Precise

Summits
and Saddles are precisely map-checked and proofread.

United
States, Canada, Europe, Japan

Level
2

Good

Summits
and Saddles are precisely map-checked and proofread. There are
less-than-perfect map
resources and therefore some reliance on raw SRTM data.

Mexico,
Central America, New Guinea, Oceania, Russia

Level
3

Fair

Summits
are map-checked, but there are multiple problems and contradictions
within published data sources.
Saddles are almost entirely derived from raw SRTM data.

Africa,
Central Asia, Indonesia,

Level
4

Provisional

Data
mostly comes from SRTM and Soviet mapping, and is augmented only
inconsistently by some newer
survey data. Chinese data is taken from multiple sources, as the
topographic survey is restricted from viewing.

South
and East Asia,
South America

Level
5

Rough

Voids
in DEM and mapping resources mean that lists are incomplete.
Inclusion of mountains is presumed accurate, but P-values are
provisional.

Antarctica,
Greenland, Canadian Arctic

Note: Although we
say with confidence that there are 1,524 Ultras, there is
an error range inherent in
our sources of data: Summit elevation values vary greatly in
quality from nation to nation. Saddles are mostly based on SRTM
data. Saddles tend to be easier to interpolate from DEMs than
summits as they are often in broad flat areas or at least in wide
passes. We believe that SRTM derived saddle elevations are
probably accurate 95% of the time within 15 meters (i.e. there is a 30
meter range). Saddle elevations are more accurate where we have
had the benefit of detailed national surveys such as the US, Canada,
Europe and Japan. Thus we believe a likely range for the true
number of ultras is ±10.

How about the largest ones?

Following is the superior list of
the World's Top 50 mountains by prominence. This list has
been a collaborative effort by David Metzler, Eberhard Jurgalski, and
Jonathan de Ferranti. The Top 10, not surprisingly,
includes all seven of the fabled seven
summits (Carstenz rule). Prominence after all does favor the
highest points of
things. The other 3 in the top 10 are all in the
Americas. Take
me to
the complete list of the
World's Top 50